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"Head, David" <[log in to unmask]>
Mon, 15 Mar 1999 09:12:05 -0500
text/plain (91 lines)
> Dean Esposito provided one of the most explicit Ada job offers
> we have seen so far. It was very informative. Thank you, Dean.
>
>
> Dean> We currently have sixty plus openings in for Ada programmers.
>
> Good
>
>
> Dean> Cutting edge technology
>
> Good
>
>
> Dean> In house Masters Degree program
>
> Good
>
>
> Dean> 9 day / 80 hour work period allows an additional day
> off every 2 weeks
>
> So, the job is not to develop the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical
> Data System. What these people will actually be paid for is to sit
> in the office 80 hours every two weeks. The development effort is
> secondary to the politics of office control. While this is not
> good, it is very GOOD TO KNOW.

Office politics?  Say, is it out of fashion to offer potential employees a
non-deathmarch set of working conditions, with a 3 day weekend every other
week?  MUST computer people all emulate worse-than-slavery conditions?

> For example, this kind of politics generally is not interested in
> contractors based on the coast, no matter how much more productive
> they might be than locally based programmers. The reason for
> having more experienced Ada programmers on the coasts than in
> the Mid-West is that many (not all!) programmers migrate towards
> the higher salaries.

Quite possibly without considering the cost of living on the coasts.  I R
"on-a-coast" and know about this nonsense...

> Dean > Salary Range: 42k - 65K + Profit Sharing
>
> Probably not very good. The average senior programmer with a
> masters degree on the cost is making $74. Newly hired senior
> programmers are making more. Most of the Ada programmers
> are on the coasts, and many of them are making more than this.
> It is hard to ask someone used to a higher salary to go down
> to a lower salary.

I would like to direct your attention to the International Salary
Calculator, at http://www2.homefair.com/calc/salcalc.html . Go there and
plug in a coastal salary, and see what it comes out to in Indiana.  You'll
likely find that your coastal salary at $74K is nearly equivalent to an
Indiana salary of $69K or so.  Yeah, you'd lose a little, maybe, depending
on the coastal salaray and exactly WHERE in Indiana this is.  Indianapolis
is fairly low-cost.  The house I bought for $78K in 1991 and sold for $85K
in 1996, if dropped into this area along with its non-wooded 3 acres, would
probably go for $110K, and I'm in a relatively low-cost part of Virginia
that's still on the coast.  I hear Roanoke is cheaper, tho.

> Location: Indiana (Relocation Assistance will be provided)
>
> Again, for those who are not native to the Mid-West, this may
> not be so good.

Then again, if you hit on someone who _is_ native to the Midwest, you may
have a winner.  Or how about someone who is just tired of traffic
congestion?  Unlike good ol' Virginia, that makes curvy roads and few of
them, and bridges are even more scarce, roads in Indiana generally occur
every mile, are straight, and you don't have to drive 40 or 50 miles to get
to an average recreational venue. And you don't _need_ so many bridges.  You
even run into an occasional strem ford <G>, and I can think of one that is
maybe 200 feet wide that I simply looked at and turned around <GGG>, but BIG
water that requires huge, expensive bridges is rare.  Toll Bridges?  Toll
Roads?  With the exception of the Indiana Turnpike, they don't need no
stinkin' toll bridges or toll roads in Indiana.  No sir!

It seems to be a 50 - 100 mile to drive to do anything here.  One could save
a lot of money in the Midwest when simply driving to recreational
activities. Finding "something to do" there without mortgaging the house for
the gasoline expense is much easier.

If it weren't for the fact that I'd have to be a super-bonehead to walk away
from the Government's CSRS retirement system when I'm so close to the end of
it, this offer would be very interesting to me.  I really, really like
Indiana.

Dave Head

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